Oakside Park
by glitzyoptics
Summary: Oakside Park is known for it's nature trails and beautiful hiking and camping locations. However, all that changed when a small girl went missing during one of the annual fishing competitions. Then the rumors began of who might have been responsible for the disappearance of this small girl. But all it was, was rumors right? Or were they? Could there be someone or something in the p


11

 **Oakside Park**

 **By:** _ **gliztyoptics**_

 **1**

It was a common place for hikers as well as campers. Oakside Park was known for its winding nature trails, gurgling brooks, and crisp mountain 's friendly and family atmosphere brought people together with week long camping trips.

Some weekends, there were fishing competitions in the largest river running through the park. Salmon and trout would fight their way upstream in the spring and fly-fishermen knew it was perfect ground. The man who could catch the most salmon or trout in the quickest time would receive a prize. But most would generously donate their prize to the Park instead of taking it for their own.

But there weren't fishing competitions anymore.

Ever since that girl went missing during one. The competitions ceased and admittance into the park was restricted. Newspapers and headlines were bold and loud: _Young girl went missing during Oakside Park's 12th Annual Fishing Competition._

Police asked questions, investigated other fishermen and families attending the competitions for clues but none were found. The same answer came: _she was there, playing at the edge of the water and then she wasn't._ Police searched up and down the river for any signs of her body in theory that she may have tumbled in. No traces were found.

It took ten whole years for Oakside Park to pick itself back up after that. Rumors had started that she had been kidnapped and they were loose upon the several hundred acres of the park. Others said that the kidnapper was a ranger of the park. Eventually, those rumors faded and so did the memory of the girl. Hikers and campers came back to the park.

The fishermen never did.

I was a usual hiker. I had broken in my hiking boots on Oakside Park's trails. I learned how to climb cliffs and how determine herbs from poisonous weeds. The Park's tall pines and granite trails taught me much.

This insistence, I planned on staying the weekend; hiking during the day and finding a usual camping spot at the crest of a hill to rest for the night.

I greeted the park ranger at the entrance of the Park with a small wave. His name was David Thomas and he had been employed at the Park since the very beginning. He was nearing the end of his prime but he enjoyed his work. He followed me to where I parked and upon getting out of my car, he called over. The sound of my heavy car door slamming shut muffled him out.

"I'm sorry?" I called.

"I said, what are you up to today, Pat?" the ranger asked.

"Just some usual hiking. I'm thinking about staying the weekend as well."

The look on David's face changed immediately upon hearing that. It went from his usual genial smile to a flattened grimace. "That sounds like a lot of fun there, Pat. Have a good one!" his words betrayed his expression.

Only slightly put-off by his odd behavior, I continued about my way. With my hiking bag and my worn boots, I started off into forest. I glanced over my shoulder only once to see David standing there, watching me depart. David didn't usually act like this. He was an outdoorsman and an enthusiast for staying within the park whether for a day long tripor a weekend long retreat, he didn't sound very pleased to know I was staying a few nights.

I tried not to let it get to me.

I didn't need a map; I knew Oakside Park like the back of my hand. I went through the five mile trails up the mountain within the Park's parameters and down again, ate lunch by the river, and went to go make camp. The camping spot on the hill overlooked a majority of the park and you could see for miles.

But as I looked upon the blankets of pines, something didn't seem right. In fact, the entire park was off beat. There was a silence; a silence I didn't recognize. There was a lack of activity, human and wildlife, except for the eerie coo of a dove every so often.

A coldness settled in my belly. Maybe David's words were getting to me more than they should have. Maybe he had had a bad morning, maybe there was a death in his family that tainted his words but I still couldn't shake this creeping feeling from taking over me.

As night fell and the doves settled in their nests, a thick, impenetrable silence cloaked the landscape. Every sound was magnified, every shift I made in my windbreaker itched my inner ear, every crackle of the fire sounding like footsteps. The bleak amber light from the campfire should have assured me but it did just the opposite. It cast ugly, stretched shadows across the campsite and the only thing I could think about was the story of that girl gone missing, about the rumors that it was because of some lunatic loose in the park.

But they were just rumors weren't they?

They had to be.

I couldn't shake the thought from my head that there was something following me, watching me this entire day without my knowledge.

 _Come on, Pat. You're not eight years old anymore._ I thought. _You don't believe in those rumors... do you?_

A scream.

A single tone. A single strangled cry of terror. Whether it was female or male, I couldn't tell.

Fear seized me, crawling across my skin and jolting me from my seat position. My flashlight was immediately in my hand and switched on, shakely training the surrounding brush. I couldn't tell if it was a few miles away or a few feet away.

Not even my flashlight could penetrate the blackness of the night. The moon was dormant and not a star twinkled. There was no light for miles except for my lone, dim flashlight and my campfire.

A slight, prickling breeze swept through the camp site, rustling every shrub and every tree. A howling started and without any thought, I stamped out my fire and hid in my tent. The thin, canvas my only protection against the sudden wind and the impeding owner of the scream. Shivers quaked through my body. I wasn't sure if I was cold or terrified.

Maybe staying here a weekend wasn't such a good idea. I decided right then I would leave in the morning.

I didn't sleep at all that night.

 **2**

As soon as dawn came, I packed my things as quick as I could and I started down toward the parking lot for my car. There was no way I was going to be able to stay another night here. All night, all I could hear was the echo of that scream in my ear and after hours of analyzing it mercilessly in my head, I realized it belonged to a girl, a young girl at that.

The possibility of it being my imagination was slim. It was so loud and so real - how could it be a hallucination?

All I wanted to do was to get away from this place. There was nothing that was going to be able to make me stay. I had been in love with this place once but not anymore.

I made it back down to my car and I was throwing things into my backseat when a voice came from behind me, making me nearly jump out of my skin, "How was your night, Pat?" Whipping around, David was standing there, placid and curious.

"Oh, uh, it was, it was fine. Thanks, David." I hopped into my car and went to go start it.

"Where are you off to? Didn't you stay you were going to stay the weekend?" He eyed my hiking bag in the backseat, looking slightly perturbed.

"Oh, uh..." my heart was pounding in my chest, mouth dry. I didn't know what to say - how to word it or if I should ever say anything?

"Did something happen?" he prodded.

I gripped my steering wheel with white knuckles in one hand and the ignition in the other, the exhaustion of no sleep suddenly overwhelming me. After few moments went by of sitting underneath the skeptical gaze of David, I knew it was probably a disservice not to inform David of what had happened since he was the park ranger.

My hand dropped from my key in the ignition. "I heard something last night, David... There was a scream. I couldn't... I couldn't where it was or where it came from. But I heard a scream!"

David studied the surely terrified look on my face for some time before a smile came across his lips and then he laughed.

"What are you laughing at?" I nearly shouted.

"I'm not laughing at you, Pat. There were a few families here camping down near the river and they were playing during the night. I got some complaints from other campers as well, so you're not the only know to hear it."

Relief poured through me like cold water. My muscles relaxed considerably and a weak smile spread across my face. "Just... kids?"

David returned my smile earnestly and nodded. "Just kids." he said.

That would explain why I thought the scream belonged to a young girl. It was probably a few boys come to shake her tent or pop out from a bush as they played late-night hide-and-go-seek. It wasn't as terrible as my imagination was getting at. I was kicking myself now. _Pat, you're such a scaredy cat. Did you honestly think that was a ghost or something? Or someone getting get killed by this lunatic ten years later?_ Maybe at the time, I had believed it but now, all my fears are had been alleviated.

"Thank you, David." I said sincerely.

"Were you really planning on just leaving?" he laughed.

Immediately, I felt pretty stupid but I decided to laugh it off. "Yeah... I did." I got out of my car and started to retrieve all the gear I had thrown into the back seat of my car. I laughed.

David gave me a sympathetic pat on the shoulder and he offered to share his breakfast he was making in his ranger hut. I gladly complied.

The ranger hut was small, one-roomed containing a very messy desk, a cot, a locker, a small table with two chairs and a small kitchenette. In the oven, a delicious smell arose, a heavenly smell and then I realized how hungry I was.

"I can understand why you could be so scared," David remarked, "even though, it's been ten years, people still get edgy around here." I knew immediately what he was talking about. "Coffee?"

I nodded.

"It's like telling people some place is haunted and expecting them to want to stay the night. It's just not going to happen. People really never forget." David said. He handed me a disposable cup of coffee. I expected there to be sadness in his words but oddly enough, there was none.

The oven made a ding and David took the pan from the oven to reveal roasted biscuits with cheese and scrambled eggs. I was abruptly starving. He put one on a plate with a fork and handed it to me, offering me a seat at his table and we began to eat.

I didn't know David incredibly well but him and I had hit it off when I first started coming to the park almost fifteen years ago. He was friendly yet secretive. He was kind yet oddly quiet about his personal life. When asked, he'd give vague optimistic questions and I hadn't ever the reason to question his optimism. But today, I decided to ask questions.

"How long have you been a ranger here, David?" I asked.

David laughed. "Twenty... no... thirty? Thirty years? Gosh, Pat, it's all run together. I've been here a while, that's all. I live up the river a few miles."

I nodded but continued, "I guess it was pretty devastating when that girl went missing.. Devastating for the park I mean."

A coolness came over his face. "It was very devastating. That poor girl was so young. It's crazy to think that something like that could happen." he paused, "and all those rumors. The rumors were the only thing devastating to the park. The girl could have fell into the river for all we knew or wandered farther up the river and gotten lost. It's strange of people to assume it was a kidnapping." he shook his head.

"Do you believe them?" I asked.

"Not all!" he cried, "it's such a wild accusation to make and the newspapers didn't help ease the public either. We closed down for all those years and had all these investigators through here and they turned up nothing. Absolutely nothing that would point to those rumors being true."

I then felt guilty for bringing it up. Curiosity got the better of me. "I'm sorry... it must have been really terrible for you."

He waved his hand dismissively. "No, it wasn't too bad at all. Just concerning because for a while there, things looked pretty grim for the park."

I smiled. "Well, at least things are looking up now."

He nodded, not mirroring my smile. "Yeah, things are."

We finished our breakfast in silence. It was either very delicious or just because I was exhausted and hungry. With a full stomach, I thanked him for sharing it with me and started out again to commence some hiking.

 **3**

The night began to fall.

The doves cooed lowly and then came the silence. The still. The calm before the storm. The campers that had stayed the previous night made their way home earlier that day. There were no other cars in the lot, I noticed besides my own, one other and David's. For a weekend, the park was surprisingly quiet and slow. And atop the hill at the campsite, things had settled too well. The night had a bite to it, despite it being the summer and I couldn't tell if it was true cold or fear. Fear had already taken a toll on me and the sun had just set.

Again, it was just me, my tent, and the crackling campfire.

 _Just kids._ I thought. _It's just kids._

I was so cold. Not even the campfire could warm me. I didn't feel its warmth. I put out the fire and crawled into the tent.

The silence was uncomfortable, made me itch, made my skin crawl and I had the inappropriate urge to scream just so _something_ could break the silence. But eventually, my mind lulled and sleep was coming for me; I wanted it so bad. I was exhausted and needed it.

Just as I was drifting away, a sound finally penetrated the silence, an unpleasant noise. Footsteps - slow, deliberate crunches of granite. My limbs wouldn't move. I froze, clutching my thin blanket, listening intently. They were approaching. My mind went frantic and my gut knotted painfully. Who owned those steps? This park was huge. How likely was it for that one other camper to stumble across this particular campsite? Or why would David come all the way over here?

At one point, the steps were at my tent. They didn't linger long. Just as abruptly as they came, abruptly they went. I took a massive breath and clawed my way out of my tent, flicking on my flashlight.

The sky was black.

Where was the moon? Where were the stars?

My flashlight revealed markings in the granite. The footsteps came up from one of the trails, through the camp, up to my tent, and back down the opposite way towards the river. They were imprints of hiking boots, large boots. The prints were similar to my own and I knew who they belonged to.

David.

David and I have the same brand of shoes. I exhaled heavily and laughed to myself. _Pat, you're so jumpy. Kids and now David? You need to relax. Everything's okay._ I felt so stupid. I was being such a child. I was in my mid-thirties and I was acting like a child.

I decided I would head down the way David did. It didn't seem too strange for him to be walking around. He did make rounds through the night to ensure that there was nothing illegal or dangerous going on.

I didn't know what time it was; I should be asleep was all I knew but I felt the urge to see what David was doing. He could alleviate some of my anxieties.

With the flashlight leading the way, I started down the trail. I couldn't spot David's flashlight but I figured going down by the river would be a good start.

I could hear it long before I was near it. The river that crossed through Oakside Park was part of the more active section; it wasn't too fast but it wasn't a still pool either.

Upon reaching the river, I didn't see David.

I stood on the river bed, listening. David wasn't anywhere to be found. I didn't hear his footsteps and no flashlight. I wasn't sure exactly why I felt compelled to come down here. Now I was in the dark with only my flashlight to comfort me.

"Pat?"

I spun around to find David standing there in the light of my flashlight.

"David!" I cried, "Oh my God, you scared me!"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to. What are you doing wandering around this late?" his expression didn't look any different than what he normally did, placid and calm.

"I thought... Did you come walking around where I was camping up at that hill?"

He glanced upward at it. "I did. I came over to check on you since you told me what happened last night. Although, I've been walking around a lot more lately."

"How come?" I asked.

He shrugged and didn't say anything.

"Why don't you have a flashlight? There's no way you can see out here."

He again didn't say anything.

A new fear gripped me. David was one of the most level-headed individuals I knew. There had to be a reason he was acting so strange... the vagueness, the wandering, no flashlight?

"David... what's going on? Why don't you have a flashlight?"

"It's good to not be noticed here at night."

"What does that mean?" I demanded.

David shifted his weight to his other foot and took the flashlight from my hand and switched it off. "It's best to not have this on here."

"What does that mean?!" I cried into the darkness. I hadn't experienced this type of darkness before. It was like a cave, dark and cold. David was standing a few feet away from me and not even his outline could be seen. "What is going on here, David? Are we in trouble? Is there someone here?"

The only thing I could think of was the little girl going missing and why she might have gone missing. Had someone really taken her? Was the man that had taken her still here hiding somewhere in the park? Were they here now?

Was he the man standing in front of me?

I immediately felt I needed to get out of here. An oppressive feeling came over me and it made me feel faint; a ringing started in my ear.

"I don't think _someone_ is the correct word." David mumbled.

Slowly, I started backward.

David heaved a sigh. "You're going to think I'm crazy. But that little girl didn't go missing," his voice began to climb in volume, "in fact, she was kidnapped. The rumors are right! It was someone in the park. Or should I say some _thing._ "

David drew closer but I continued back.

"How can someone be there one moment and then not there in a second? Her mother didn't lose her. Her father didn't misplace her. She didn't run off. She didn't drown. She was stolen right out of this world!"

David was crazy. There was something terribly wrong with him and all I wanted to do was run. Run far away from here but I couldn't. There was something planting me firmly were I was.

"David... you're crazy... That's not _possible_." I said.

"Do you know how long I've been trying to tell myself that?" David groaned. "David, you're crazy. Everyone's going to think you're crazy. Just that freak up in the park fabricating this story about that girl." he paused, the silence was thick but his next words cut through it like a knife, "Pat... I saw her get taken. I can't explain what took her but it was like a warping in the air, misshapen blackness. It didn't have a face or eyes but it _looked_ at me. Right into me."

"Why didn't you do anything?"

"Because I couldn't _move._ It looked right at me and consumed the girl into itself and disappeared. Vanished. The girl didn't scream, she didn't even flinch. Gone. Just _gone._ "

I wasn't sure what to say. David had me speechless. I didn't know whether to believe him or not. Believe the story that that girl got... abducted by blackness? Some entity snatched her out of this world? There was no way it was real... He had to be hallucinating.

However, if he was hallucinating, then what really did happen to the girl?

"And whatever that was... it's coming back. And I know that because the only thing I can remember besides seeing that _thing_ was the ringing. There was such a ringing in my ear when I was staring at it. And recently..." he paused, the ringing that had started in my ears earlier was becoming angry, like hundreds of bees. "it's been growing..." he whispered.

I needed to get out of here. _Now._ I could feel a presence, behind me, in front of me, to the right, to the left. Everywhere. It was closing in fast. I needed to _run._ I tried to repress the overwhelming urge to sob.

"Pat, if you trust me, or if you did trust me at some point in time, _leave_ this place. Don't come-" his sentence was abruptly cut off and the next thing I knew, a strong force come up from behind and shoved me into the ground. My face hit the stone of the river bed - _hard_ but I didn't feel a thing.

Dragging myself up, I ran belligerently into the darkness as fast as I possibly could, stumbling over tangling limbs and protruding rocks.

There was something behind me, close behind, chasing me, catching up, quicker and quicker. The ringing was painful and a warmth fell down my face. I didn't know if it was blood or tears.

Tearing my way up the slope, I could see the ranger hut, the parking lot, my car! A scream echoed through the river valley, a scream that belonged to David no doubt. I was already in my car, grabbing the spare key from the glove compartment, shoving it into the ignition and speeding through the parking lot and out of the entrance. I nearly took down the sign that read: _Come See Us Again Soon!_

Sobbing took over me, profuse and tremorous. My hands shook at the steering wheel.

And I drove and I drove fast. I didn't know where. Away from there was all I knew.

Away into the dark.

 **4**

Some days later, a few miles up the river from Oakside Park, a man was getting coffee at a cafe.

It was a quaint place with a friendly staff and good food. The floor was checkered, the walls, pink, were filled with graphics and ads, and the jukebox filled the room with Elvis Presley's tunes.

The man was looking lazily through a newspaper.

A newspaper that featured two articles: _Missing Oakside Park Girl's Body Thought To Be Found. Ten years ago, June Tellerman, 8, was with her family at Oakside Park's 12 Annual Fishing Competition when she went missing with no traces. However yesterday a body was found. Whether it belonged to Tellerman is still under question and her distraught family demands answers. Read more on Page 4B._

And: _'63 Buick Found Crashed Ditch. The Buick was found by a man yesterday bicycling down Old Pine Road. The only remnants of the owner of the car were a pair of worn hiking boots, size 7, and the keys. The investigation is still underway. Read more on Page 2A._

"More coffee sir?" the kind waitress asked.

The man waved his hand dismissively. "No thank you." he said and set down the newspaper on the table.

The waitress glanced down at it. "I wonder if it's really that girl... After ten years, a body's finally found? I doubt it's really her. And then that Buick crashes into that ditch?" she shook her head, "Some crazy things have been happening near that park recently..."

"Yes, it's been awfully strange, hasn't it?" the man agreed.

"I'll say! Would you like the check, sir?"

"Please."

The waitress pulled it from her apron and gave it to the man.

He paid the check, exact change, signed the receipt, gathered his things and took his leave. A single bell announced his departure. The waitress went to receive the check. She gathered the money and looked to see if it had been signed. And it had: _David Thomas_ in scrawling cursive.

She put the money in her apron, busted the table and went to go seat the next customers.

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End file.
